Alumni News & Profiles

Kate Battiato (MPA, '07) and her daughter, Natalya, visited the La Follette School in July. The school's former career development coordinator, Battiato now serves as a management analyst for the County of Monterey in Callifornia. MPA student Travis Shoemaker is interning with Battiato in the county's Resource Management Agency.

Alumni News

Mark Nicolini (MA ’83) retired in September 2017 as the city of Milwaukee’s budget and management director, a position he had held since 2004. Throughout his career, he has shared his expertise with and provided guidance to dozens of La Follette School students. Read more...

State Rep. Gordon Hintz (MPA ’01) began his duties as Assembly minority leader October 1. Hintz, a state lawmaker from Oshkosh, was elected by his colleagues to replace Rep. Peter Barca (MA ’83), who resigned. Read more...

Katie Maguire-Jack (MPA ’06) and two colleagues received a $3 million grant to address substance abuse problems in Ohio. Maguire-Jack, who received her doctorate in social welfare from UW–Madison, is an assistant professor at The Ohio State University’s College of Social Work. Read more...

Allison Quatrini (MIPA ’09) is an assistant professor in the Behavioral Sciences Collegium at Eckerd College in Florida after receiving a doctorate in political science from The George Washington University. She teaches Chinese Politics and Government, Comparative Politics, and Chinese Environmental Politics. Read more...

La Follette School Professor Emeritus Dennis Dresang and Peter Tempelis (MPA, JD ’06) will discuss their study about the high rate of turnover among assistant district attorneys (ADAs) during a La Follette School Policy After Work gathering on Tuesday, October 17. The networking opportunity for La Follette students, alumni, and friends begins at 5 p.m. at Brocach, 7 W. Main Street. Read more...

Don Eggert (MPA ’15) is living out his dream of working for NASA, thanks to his Presidential Management Fellowship (PMF) and La Follette School Associate Director Hilary Shager, who connected him with Jon Montgomery (MA ’93). Read more...

A paper about the corporate tax base co-authored by Austin Frerick (MPA ’14) inspired the Iowa native to delve deeper into the issue of economic concentration in the United States. Further research prompted a return to his home state, where he launched a campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives this summer. Read more...

As incubator director of the Filene Research Institute, Adam Lee (MPA ’08) is organizing a free community event in Madison on October 2 featuring author Lisa Servon. Lee joined Filene in May 2016 and leads the Reaching Minority Households project. Read more...

The Evidence-Based Health Policy Project (EBHPP) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison is sponsoring a public discussion about community health on Friday, September 8 at UW–Fox Valley. State Representatives Dave Murphy, Mike Rohrkaste, and Amanda Stuck are hosting the event, which features six local groups working to improve health in the region. Read more...

The editors of the Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis selected a paper by Deven Carlson (MPA ’15) and colleagues at the University of Oklahoma and University of New Mexico as one of the three best articles published during 2016. Read more...

John Vander Meer (MPA ’06) participated in a panel discussion about the implications of Wisconsin’s aging population and growing long-term care workforce crisis for state policy May 2 in Madison. Read more...

Daniel Bush (MPA '09) joined the School District of Lodi as business manager in summer 2016. He is responsible for managing the district’s financial and other business affairs as well as developing and supervising a $20 million budget. Read more...

Bryan Gadow (’05 MPA) received the Richard B. Schmied Leadership Award from the Green County Development Corporation (GCDC) on April 25. Schmied, who served as president of the New Glarus Village Board, was president of the GCDC when he passed away in 2000. Read more...

Two La Follette School alumni – Carolyn Clow and Bradley Campbell – are seeking election in their local communities. Clow is running for the McFarland Village Board, and Campbell hopes to join La Follette alumna Sara Eskrich on the Madison City Council. Read more...

Rob Meyer’s commitment to improving K-12 students’ academic success spans three decades. As an educator and researcher, he has shared his passion with students at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and school leaders across the country. Read more...

Since 2005, almost 40 students have benefitted from Mark Stone’s generous donations to the La Follette School of Public Affairs. Stone, who lives in Illinois, has given several gifts to the La Follette School over the past 10 years to help graduate students gain the skills needed to improve the lives of people in the United States through public service. Read more...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has published several papers written by Alisha Bower (MPA ’16) while she was an international agriculture intern in Lima, Peru. The papers focus on biotechnology, climate change, and trade issues related to Peru’s agricultural industries as the country’s new president – Pedro Pablo Kuczynski – assumed office. Read more...

Sam Austin (MIPA ’08) joined the Evidence-Based Health Policy Project at the University of Wisconsin–Madison as its director in mid-October. Austin previously served as a budget analyst with the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB). Read more...

The interdisciplinary Neuroscience Training Program (NTP) drew C.P. Frost to the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The NTP’s joint graduate program with the La Follette School of Public Affairs – Neuroscience & Public Policy – sealed the deal. Read more...

Austin Frerick (MPA ’14) co-authored a paper about how the corporate tax base has changed during recent years. Frerick and Laura Power, both in the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Tax Analysis, used micro-economic tax return data from 1992 to 2013 to compute the first time-series on the normal return fraction for all nonfinancial C corporations, for multinationals, and for industries. Read more...

Seven La Follette School students learned the intricacies of federal program evaluation and auditing at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) this summer. They also experienced the tight group of La Follette School alumni in and around the nation’s capital – known as the DC Bobs. Read more...

The Wisconsin Ethics Commission unanimously selected Brian Bell (MPA ’10) as its first administrator. Bell currently serves as a budget and policy analyst for the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services. Read more...

Mark Hadley (MA '97) was named deputy director of the U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO), where he has worked for 15 years in various capacities. He began his new responsibilities June 6. Read more...

Deven Carlson (MPA '07) and Jared Knowles, a 2015 Gladfelter Award for Government Innovation recipient, co-authored a report in the Summer 2016 issue of the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. Their report is titled The Effect of English Language Learner Reclassification on Student ACT Scores, High School Graduation, and Postsecondary Enrollment: Regression Discontinuity Evidence from Wisconsin. Read more...

Michael Rodriguez (MPA/MSURP '09) co-authored his first major publication as director of research at Smart Growth American/George Washington University. The report, Foot Traffic Ahead 2016, ranks the country’s top 30 metropolitan areas based on the amount of commercial development in Walkable Urban Places (WalkUPs). Read more...

Steve Kulig (MPA ’14) returned to his alma mater as the La Follette School’s new career services coordinator and department administrator in April. As career services coordinator, Kulig helps students devise job-search strategies, manages alumni job placement data, and maintains the School’s network of potential employers, including those appropriate for internships. Read more...